Harvard Square is not a tourist destination in the way that most tourist destinations are. People come to it deliberately. The density of independent restaurants and shops - holdouts from an era before chain retail took over every commercial block in Cambridge - gives it a texture that most American neighborhoods have lost.
We are on the first floor of The Garage Mall on JFK Street, where Ben and Jerry's used to be. Our neighbors are Memory Shop, Gatcha Zakka - which longtime regulars might remember as Anime Zakka - Subway, Chutneys, and LE's. It is an honest slice of what Harvard Square actually is: not a curated retail concept, just a building full of independent places that have figured out how to stick around.
The foot traffic is a mix of students, locals who have been coming to this block for thirty years, and people walking over from the museums or the Smith Campus Center. It is not a crowd that needs convincing. They are curious by temperament.
The Red Line stop is a three-minute walk. If you are coming from elsewhere in Cambridge or from Boston, it is easier than it looks on a map. Park Street, transfer, two stops.
We are open Monday through Thursday from 1 to 8:30, Friday through Sunday from noon to 8:30.